Poised, at the starting gate...

I have been reviewing the list I made on Monday regarding this nasty little back to school situation. First, let me say, I am coping well enough with this impending reality and my attitude this week, surprisingly, hasn't been sour at all!
I made a pilgrimage to Costco and replaced all the processed food that I tossed while I was still on vacation afterglow. The challenge now is to keep everybody from consuming it all before classes resume nest week. On the dinner front, most meals were served by 8:45pm, although last night we ate at 6:30!
With a minimal amount of bickering between Trenton and Margo, we hit the uniform store and swiftly spent several hundred dollars. On the short trip between Sue Mills Uniforms and Academy, Trenton and I argued about the fact that I would not be buying DC or any other kind of designer tennis shoes for his rapidly growing feet. Meanwhile, Margo silently sat in the back seat, plotting a trip to The Galleria for new dress uniform shoes and a designer pencil bag; this would be after we went to the surf shop for a very specific book bag! Thankfully, the Academy trip proved fruitful for Trenton who walked away with a pair of blue Converse and stylish enough dress shoes. Much to his relief, we dropped him at home and I took our fashionista to Famous Footwear where she found a pair of spiffy black pattin leather bowling shoes for dress uniform days. She did manage to convince me into a visit to the surf shop where she found a shockingly inexpensive book bag. She still wanted to check out Abercrombie for an oh so perfect pencil case, but I held strong!
And so the preparations are pretty much complete. We plan to head to the beach for the weekend and do our best to savour these last few days of downtime. We've really had a nice summer break. Its been a hard summer to be in small business, as the country's economic situation has finally made it to our little oil town with an avenging style. David has faced some challenging times over this last decade and is bracing for the next 12 months. To quote an advisor we recently consulted on Kiki's behalf, "Hope is not a plan" and so we are opening our imaginations and looking for creative ways to come out on the other side of this trying climate. We will focus on the facts and fight the distractions that bombard us from those who seek such goals. We will be concentrating on our beautiful children while we work to secure the survival of our family's business. We have each other and our dear friends and will strive to never take anyone or anything for granted and will be generous in giving the benefit of doubt. We will not surrender hope and maintain an optimistic faith while remembering to be smart and shrewd. Trenton will be shopping for and applying to high schools for next year. Yikes! Kiki will be turning 18 in December and, if all goes as smoothly as planned, we will be readying him to move to The Brookwood Community next summer/fall. Margo will be competing most weekends this fall on her gymnastic team while we all try to squeeze in as much family togetherness as possible on our ranch once the weather becomes more mild.

I was never a great student, but I always loved the first few days of the start of the school year. The notebooks were fresh and clean and smelled of the factory from which they came. The pencils were long and their erasers were perfectly pink with sharp even planes on top. Shoes were new, jeans were a deep and rich indigo blue. The future was staring you in the face with vast amounts of promise and opportunity, all of which you were in charge. Along with your fresh haircut, you had a new teacher in a new class room in a new grade and a new chance for a clean start. At 44 years old, I still regard "the year" as September through May with summer standing alone. I'm actually feeling this way about this new year as it applies to our family and our future. So...I guess we better get started! Happy School year!

PS. Pictured is me & my brother, David, on the first day of school, 1981. Click on the picture and you will get a blown up version that is ripe for study. The reflection off my teeth is generated by a very full and serious set of braces. I guess I wasn't wearing my 5 rubber bands in front that day or my head gear. David is heading off to his first day very prepared. He holds a small note pad, or perhaps that's one or two pieces of folded notebook paper, and a pen.